Tetrallantos

Abstract: Lake Salinda is the water supply reservoir for Salem in Washington County, Indiana. Water samples collected over a period of several months by Earle Brown, Superintendent of the water treatment plant, have contained a number of unusual and interesting algae. One of these was a Scenedesmus, present in fair abundance in early May, that contained a single spine on each terminal cell. It represents a variant of S. opoliensis. In the same water sample was a colonial green alga belonging to the genus Tetrallantos. Other better known algae present in the reservoir at the time included Dictyosphaerium pulchellum, Kirchneriella contorta, Westella linearis, Phacus pyrum, Ankistrodesmus falcatus, Pediastrum duplex, and Crucigenia quadrata. Certain algae found in Lake Salinda at other times were even more unusual, such as the blue-green alga Borzia, the colonial desmid Cosmocladium, and the colonial green alga Pectodictyon. These are described in some detail below. Tentative identification of the algae from Lake Salinda was made at the laboratory of the water treatment plant in Salem and the samples were then forwarded to Cincinnati for further study.